Lecce

Context

Demographic data collected by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) as at January 1, 2014, shows that the over 65 elderly residents in the city of Lecce are 21.850 out of a total of 93.302, accounting for 23.4% of the total population, of which 8.932 males and 12.918 females. The aging index, representing the degree of aging of the population, amounted to 187.7 seniors every 100 young people, down slightly from the previous year when it stood at 191.4. The structural dependency index, representing the social and economic strain of the non-working population (0-14 years and 65 years and over) on the active one (15-64), is equal to 56 dependent individuals per 100 workers, with consequently an increased need of social assistance. The index parts of the active population are 147.6, as the working age population is very old. The index structure of the active population is 126.5. The services and/or municipal social benefits designed to support the elderly people, in the last annuity involved approximately 1.150 residents over sixty-borne. These services include home care social (HCS) and the integrated home care (IHC), including social and health services for about 240 elderly; providing meals on wheels, laundry and pick-up service at institutions and facilities of the municipal area to persons in a position of high socio-economic and/or with limited psychophysical autonomy for about 160 users; eight multipurpose community centers that offer to the entire elderly population a number of social activities and entertainment besides psycho-motor activities, recreational and artistic expression which benefit about 660 users; the organization of climatic stays facing about 370 senior citizens residing in the city of Lecce; interventions for home delivery of water, fruits and vegetables to support older people, preventing them from leaving the house, in the days of greatest summer heat for about 70 elderly people. In the course of 2014 was also recorded, in line with what happened in the last few years, a remarkable growth of poverty due to the absence of relational family network that compromised the ability of personal management resulting in decreased levels of security and required hospitalization in sheltered accommodation. The City provides the integration of right of admission to residential aged care facilities in favor of about 20 members with economic hardship.

City services involved

Target elderly population

People over 75 years old that live alone and risk alienation problems.

Interventions planned

We are going to involve in the Lecce test bed 20 people over 75 years old at risk of frailty and/or MCI. This people initially have an “active” life and usually have a normal social life sharing activities with other people (e.g., cinema, theatre, library, club). We will detect their activity and usual behaviour (with the mentioned sensors) and in case there is a change in their usual behaviour, for example not going out of home in a week, an early intervention will be carried. The analysis also involves the users’ behaviour in public areas, such as supermarket, coffee bar, city bike kiosk, and so on, in order to understand if the person is becoming frailer and is at risk of social isolation. To prevent these potential risks, the system automatically sends notifications to the users in order to suggest a correct behaviour. Then, if the system detects that this advice is ignored by the user, it can put in use several actions, which could also involve the intervention of welfare workers.

Quantitative objectives

Unobtrusive personal data available

For each elderly taken in charge, the City of Lecce has the data contained in the "Card for the Multidimensional Assessment of adults and elderly". This card analyses all aspects the elderly’s life taken over (health, self/non-self-sufficiency, social relationships, family and economic situation) in order to permit assessment of the appropriate action to be taken. For each user, the following information are provided: name and surname; marital status; sex; level of education; information related to the pension; last profession; disability support; attendance allowance; reason for the request for intervention; initiative of the question; type of question; public assistance income; information on housing (tenure; dislocation in the territory; architectural barriers); information on the economic situation. The performance of such social welfare carried out under the home care service are personal assistance in performing normal daily activities, support of the parental role in education, support to the personal mobility.

Data that will be collected in the test bed is:

We will collect data about users’ behaviour, such as (i) the time spent in each room of the house, (ii) the frequency in using specific appliances, (iii) the visited places in the city. This will be done through smartphone sensors and/or low-cost wearable devices, whose data will be combined with information coming from a localization infrastructure able to track elderly people both in indoor and outdoor environment. Each individual will be equipped at least with a smartphone, which has a twofold function: acting as data collector for indoor and outdoor localization system (through its GPS and BTLE sensors) and acting as a terminal to display messages sent by the City4Age platform. In addition, users should be equipped also with appropriate wearable devices, which are more unobtrusive than smartphones for sensing purposes, in that users are not required to remind to take wearable with them when they move. For the indoor localization system, each room in private places (such as users homes) will have a certain number of Raspberry PI boards that act both as an electronic placeholder and as data collector for data coming from smartphones or wearable devices. The number of placeholders in each room depends on the spatial granularity required for the position and the BTLE signal coverage (at least three to triangulate the BTLE signal). In public indoor places, like supermarkets, theatres, cinemas, etc. a certain number of iBeacon placeholder will be placed, since it is required only the spatial marking and not the collecting functionality.